March of the Medallions

I've had a bittersweet kind of day today - I have just finished teaching the last of 8 sessions in my Marcelle Medallion class. I've gotten to know this wonderful group of ladies really well over the course of these classes, so I'm quite sad we have come to the end and I'll miss our Saturday afternoon sewing and chatting sessions. At the same time, I'm incredibly proud of what they have accomplished over the last few months (in a completely non-patronising way - more like a proud mum, I think!) It is a pretty intense quilt to make, and on top of that some of these ladies have only made one or two quilts before this one, so it is an incredible achievement.

It has been such a wonderful class to teach - watching each of these quilts grow and change has been a seriously amazing experience. One of my favorite things about making my version was how much it changes with the addition of each border, so watching it happen with seven different versions has been fascinating. Each class has involved a lot of admiring of the other quilts, which has been a beautiful thing to be part of. Every one of these quilts is so different, yet they are all absolutely beautiful. I'm definitely a proud mum, I think ;o)

I only have a photo of part of Margaret's quilt - she has been sick for the last few weeks but has actually finished her quilt top and it's at the quilters as we speak. I love how graphic her quilt is, and I can't wait to see the whole thing.



Helen's quilt is just beautiful - she wanted it to be happy, and I think she has definitely achieved that. I am just so in love with this version, I can't wait to see it quilted.



Fiona suffers from the same perfectionism with piecing as I do - and her points are absolutely amazing. Even the back of this quilt looks sensational.



I absolutely adore Cath's version of this quilt - her fussy cut third border looks completely amazing, and I love that wide border SO much. Most of the Marcelle Medallions I've seen have used a fairly complex palette, but I think it works really well with a simpler palette like this, too.



This is Briony's version of the quilt. I love the softness of the palette in this one, and the darker background for the flying geese works really well. It's a really gentle looking quilt.



And finally, this is Bernadette's quilt. It is even prettier in real life, very much like a watercolour.



You can probably understand now why I'm so gushy about having taught this class :o) We are hoping to catch up and share the finished quilts in a few months time, and I really can't wait.

Have a great weekend!
xx Jess

Marcelle goes Retro

Over the next couple of months, I will be teaching a wonderful group of ladies how to make a Marcelle Medallion quilt at one of my local fabric shops, Frangipani Fabrics. I taught my first class on Saturday and although I was ridiculously nervous about it, it was a really fun afternoon. Each of my students has chosen a completely different palette and it is going to be so much fun watching them all grow. Since I enjoyed making the first one so much, I've decided to make a second Marcelle along the course of my classes.

I wanted this second one to be completely different from the first, so I've chosen a really autumnal, retro kind of palette - lots of reds, oranges and yellows along with browns. I'm going to use the really pale blues for my background fabrics, which I think will work quite well. My initial fabric pull looks something like this (although I'm sure it will evolve slightly over the course of making the quilt).

I have partially pieced the centre star - I'm teaching the foundation paper pieced method I used in my first quilt, just to avoid all the y-seams and templates involved in the proper method (and because, you know, I love paper piecing!). Every fabric in here is a favorite, and I'm really excited about where it's heading.

So although this will be left on the backburner for the next week or so while I finish quilting my Maple Leaf quilt, I'll be slowly putting it together over the next couple of months (and hopefully entering it in this year's Island Quilts show - a major first for me.)

xx Jess

Marcelle Medallion {Finished}

This quilt has had the perfect ending. I spent a blissful afternoon hand stitching the binding and chatting to one of my closest friends while our kids played and we stitched. I know I say this about almost every quilty finish - but this quilt is my absolute favorite I've ever made. I think part of that is due to how enjoyable it was to put together - mainly because it changes so much with the addition of each border, and because it really tested my skills as a quilter.

When I first saw versions of this quilt popping up in blogland this year, I knew for sure I wanted to make it. I didn't think much more about it until Penny Poppleton announced her Marcelle Medallion QAL, and in the same week my daughter spotted Alexia Abegg's Liberty Love book in my local Spotlight. It was fate.

The colours for this quilt were inspired by a piece of Summer Totem fabric from Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Loulouthi collection - although it evolved somewhat from my initial fabric pull. I made it completely from stash (as opposed to scraps) but used well over 200 different fabrics, so it has a bit of a scrappy feel I guess.

I deliberately chose quilting designs that would enhance the piecing, and used a range of Aurifil thread colours to blend into the fabric as much as possible.

I used a different batting for the first time in this quilt. Ordinarily I use Matilda's Own bamboo batting - I know lots of people have had bad experiences with bamboo batting, but I really love it. I tend to buy batting by the roll - and when I ordered my latest lot I decided to get something with a little more loft. This one is a wool/cotton blend - it is a similar weight to bamboo or cotton, but has a little bit more loft. My quilting has a little more puff than usual, which I like a lot.

The quilting in the third border is completely inspired by blatantly copied from the way the amazing Krista Withers quilted a Marcelle Medallion recently, although I extended the design across the whole last three borders - following the straight lines in the grey/teal border up into the crosses. I used light grey Aurifil (2615) for this, and it has blended into the various low volume fabrics flawlessly.

You can read more about my quilting choices here and here.  

The one thing I'm not so stoked about with this quilt is the back. I think I rushed the basting too much, and as a result I have a few pretty hefty folds in the backing fabric. Since it's going to be a wall quilt anyway, I'm not at all phased by this. I still haven't washed it, but I'll take some 'after' photos as well - I'll be interested to see how the first and third borders look once washed.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Marcelle Medallion by Alexia Abegg
Fabric: a huge range of different collections and designers
Quilting: Done by me on my domestic Bernina, using Aurifil thread
Size: 60" square.

WiP Wednesday - quilting and hand piecing

We are on school holidays for the next two weeks, so my sewing has slowed down a fair bit compared to the last few weeks. Normally, I have two days a week without kids so I get a fair bit accomplished - holidays mean it's just night time sewing again. Having said that, I've decided to finally pull my finger out and start learning to hand piece, and start my Bring Me Flowers BOM (run by Amitie Textiles). They have recently announced a third round for this BOM - so if you're interested in joining you can contact them through their website.

I'm honestly not sure why I have put this off for so long - it's been way less scary than I thought. Having said that, the first month is all straight lines - from month two onwards, there are LOTS of curves. I'll let you know how that goes ;o)

I have been quilting my Marcelle each night - I'm up to the last three borders. The way I'm quilting these is completely inspired by the amazing Krista Withers.

I've done one whole side, so I'm hoping to get it finished over the next week or so. I'm still not sure what I'll do in the floral bits - I will probably leave those until I've quilted the rest and then decide.

I'll be back of Friday with a brand new Sew-Along announcement (*cough* Midnight at the Oasis *cough*).

xx Jess

Insanity

Since finishing off the Full Moon Lagoon quilting I've been working on quilting my Marcelle Medallion. I've also been trying out the manual mode on my camera (thanks mostly to my friend Katy for sending me the link to my camera's manual and the relevant bit on white balance. My photos are a bit better than they were, so I am forever in her debt.) I had a bit of a fun taking photos of the quilting I've done so far without resorting to the auto mode.

All my quilting choices have been quite deliberate. The biggest thing at the back of my mind with this quilt is to accentuate the piecing as much as possible, so I've left quite a few areas unquilted, and mostly free motion quilted simple straight lines and fan shapes. The only area I've deviated from that is in the citrus green in the centre star - and I'm planning on using spirals and pebbles later in the quilting, so I wanted to echo that in the centre.

For the first border, I used Aurifil 50wt in a light grey and triple stitched along each of the grey lines in the print. It's given it a really subtle texture, without taking away from the fabric design.

I have quilted in the ditch around the triangles, and then echo quilted out into the background areas.

The main point of insanity comes in the black/teal border. I decided to quilt along both sides of the black lines in black thread - again very subtle but has given it a really gorgeous texture. The squares in the design are left unquilted, so they pop up quite nicely.

I am enjoying quilting this one as much as I enjoyed piecing it - quilting each border differently is keeping it interesting :o)

Off to keep working on this while the hubs is off getting his geek on playing Warhammer...

xx Jess

Marcelle Medallion (almost) Quilt Top

I've been (more) slowly been working on the second-to-last border (the crosses) over the last few nights and today. Slower because in a way I was starting to feel a bit sad this quilt top is nearly finished. I'm completely and utterly in love with it - I think more than any other quilt I've made it has been a true labour of love. 

I toyed with using a variety of colours for the crosses, but ended up going with greys and blues in the end - and I am really happy with the result. I think for the final border I'll use a darkish grey, although I'm not entirely certain (there will probably be a bit of fabric auditioning tonight). Apologies for the washed-out corner on this one, I didn't realise how bright that sun was until I was editing the photos.

Although I would hardly call my version of this quilt scrappy, it has a ridiculous number of fabrics in it (like pushing 200). I think one of my favorite things about making it is that I've been able to use little bits of lots of my favorite (read: hoarded) fabrics - and there are LOTS of favorites in here. And I am a little sad this journey is almost over, but at the same time excited about quilting it and deciding where it will hang in our house :o)

xx Jess

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday at Better off Thread, and Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.

Obsessed much?

I did warn you I was a bit obsessed with making my Marcelle Medallion. And for those of you wondering if I'm actually sleeping at the moment? Let's just say there have been quite a few after-midnight bedtimes for me this week ;o)

I pieced together the orange/red bricks last night and then had a big moment of uncertainty. I considered replacing them with low volume bricks - but my IG peeps were the voice of reason. I stuck with the colour, and I am SO glad I did.

My camera (a very basic point and click) is having a few issues photographing the colours accurately - this photo is probably close to the true colours I think.

The wide border is a print from Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks that I had earmarked for this border the whole time I've been making it. It's a difficult print to use, since it's on such a large scale - but I think it works really well as a border print.

So, only two borders to go! I'm kind of surprised how quickly I'm putting this one together :o) Lest you think I've forgotten about the Full Moon Lagoon quilt, I haven't. I've been quilting it an hour or so at a time - so I'll do a progress post on that in the next few days.

xx Jess

Marcelle Medallion Progress

I think I mentioned in my last post that I spent Saturday night making flying geese? Well those geese are now pieced into strips ready to be attached to the rest of my medallion :o) I think it's the story of my life with this quilt, but I messed up the cutting for the geese as well. I decided to use the no-waste flying geese method - but made them too big. Happily, I was able to cut them down to size - which overall is probably a really good thing as they are actually square now (as opposed to the wonky ones I had before trimming.)

I deliberated long and hard yesterday (with some help from my Instagram peeps) about the third border - but I kept coming back to this Lizzy House print. It is very dark - but I kind of like how it recedes behind the rest of the borders. I'm planning on using a dark teal print for the sixth border as well, so I'm hoping it will look effective overall. A few people have commented about how much this quilt changes as each border is attached - I think that's my favorite part about making it. I'm never really sure what it will look like until the borders are finished.

I'm excited to be finally using my Newspaper Roses (a Yuwa print) for the corner stones in the geese border - this has been sitting in my stash for well over a year but hasn't had the perfect project to be used in until now. Tonight's task will be attaching these, and starting on the fifth border.

I have two sick little boys home today from school - so I'm off to snuggle on the couch with them and watch a few movies :o)

xx Jess

The quilt that is kicking my butt

Aka the Marcelle Medallion. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely loving making this quilt. But it is really making me aware of just how much improvement is needed in my ability to follow a pattern, and my piecing skills. And how much of a perfectionist I actually am ;o)

The centre star came together okay (although I'm really glad I decided to paper piece it), as did the first border. But then came the triangles. FOUR attempts at the triangles (insert any and all swear words here - I probably uttered them all during the process of making this border).  Admittedly I have never pieced equilateral triangles before - but that isn't really the problem here. The problem was messing up the cutting for this border twice. And then using a seam allowance that was too scant and having to unpick the buggers. Normally I use a scant seam allowance, and my accuracy is pretty good. But for these triangles, a scant seam leads to triangle bases that are just a bit too wide (they should be 2" finished - as you can see from the photo these were a smidge over). And a bit too wide x 10 = a border that doesn't fit.

So my two pieces of advice for the triangle border:

1. Triple check your triangle pieces against the template. This will help you avoid having to cut three lots of triangles ;o)
2. Use a true quarter inch seam when piecing your triangles together. It makes a huge difference.

After all the drama, my triangle border is on and I am really happy with how it's coming together as a whole. The DS print on my design wall is my possible third border - although I'm going to wait until I've pieced the fourth (flying geese) border before I decide for sure. I figure it will be easier to make the geese fit properly too if I wait until they are made before attaching the third border.

I'm off to finish up these geese - have I mentioned how seriously addictive this quilt is?

xx Jess